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Orb
Orb is an original fictional character who first appeared in New Mutants: Last Class. Character History Background Barry Rubino was born and raised in Bologna, Italy. Though Barry recalls a happy childhood, it wasn't always as easy as he remembers. His father abruptly abandoned the family when Barry was 5 years old, leaving the child to be raised by his mother, an overworked nurse on the night shift at the local hospital. In an effort to fill the void in their lives, Barry tried his best to take on as much responsibility around the house as he could, doing chores and learning to look after himself from a very young age. His mother, though very proud of her hard-working son, always worried that Barry pushed himself too hard. Anxiety ran in his family, and Barry proved to be no exception. In everything he did he would simply try too hard or frett over insignificant details, overcompensating for an exaggerated sense of his own flaws and shortcomings. He suffered socially as well, and was a frequent victim of bullying at school. Developing a mutant power at the age of 15 seemed like the last thing he needed. Most of his classmates thought he was enough of a freak as it was - what would they think when they found out he was a mutant? Adding insult to injury, Barry's power left him confined inside a translucent blue bubble of solid force which he could not turn off for the life of him. It was like being trapped in a hamster ball 24 hours a day. With effort he could sometimes coax his force field into allowing a solid object to pass in or out, but it wasn't easy, and even mudane chores like getting dressed, brushing his teeth, sitting in chairs, or just squeezing through a narrow doorway became a struggle. Continuing at his regular high school seemed to be out of the question, but as it happened, the X-Men had just reopened the Xavier Institute, an American school for young mutants. After talking it over with his mother, Barry soon found himself on a one-way trip to New York. New Mutants: Last Class Barry's awkward social woes seemed to pick up right where they left off, as Andie Picton, one of his new classmates, coined the nickname "bubble boy". It stuck. Immediately he was the laughing stock of the school once again, though in general the atmosphere at Xavier's was more accepting compared to his old school. Though he was initially dead set against joining the school's "squad system" training program, Barry allowed himself to be talked into accepting Elixir as his mentor. Despite his apprehension about joining a team and agreeing to training in something as ominously named as "the Danger Room", joining the Wallflowers wound up being one of the best decisions he had ever made. Timeskip and the Last Stand As it turned out, Barry's paranoid personality and obsessive attention to detail actually made him a shrewd tactician, earning him the position of squad leader. His personal force field, while clumsy and awkward in mundane settings, rendered him all but invulnerable in combat scenarios, making him a key tactical asset in the school's weekly intersquad competitions. Elixir awarded him the codename "Orb", which he greatly preferred to his old nickname. Over the school year Barry grew close to his squadmates Millie Gross, Karl Schuler, Camille Moreau, and Sunna Njallsdottir. Karl and Barry may have started off on the wrong foot, but eventually managed to reconcile their differences and built a strong friendship instead. With the help of his friends and his advisor, Barry gradually learned to let go of many of his deeply rooted fears and worries. Not only did he start to come out of his shell socially, he even developed a measure of control over his force field. As the conflict between the Purifiers and the X-Men steadily grew, Barry could sense better than most that it wasn't going to end well. He was among the small group of young mutants to escape to Wakanda before the climactic battle known as The Last Stand of the X-Men. Shocked by the tremendous loss, Barry temporarily lost control over his force field again, and quickly agreed to remain in self-imposed exile in Wakanda with Anole, becoming a founding member of Unity. Over time, as it gradually became clear that the team was safe in Wakanda, and that the Purifiers had been at least as badly decimated by the Last Stand, Barry once again regained control over his anxiety and his powers. He made Unity HQ his home and devoted himself to keeping his new team as safe as possible, and has maintained a strict training regimen in preparation for what other dangers may lie just around the corner. Powers and Abilities Barry is a Beta-level mutant. He is capable of generating powerful force fields which appear as translucent blue spheres of energy. Barry was once a veritable prisoner inside his one of his own force fields, but has since learned how to release his death grip on his power (though he is still prone to reflexively putting it back up if startled). He can even create force fields around other other objects or people to protect or imprison as he desires. Barry can move his force fields around, potentially lifting their contents along with them. This enables him to lift up to 10 tons at once, or propel himself at speeds of up to 150 mph. It was also discovered that Barry's force fields selectively filter impurities air, allowing him, and anyone else he surrounds, to breathe comfortably, while simultaneously affording protection against airborne hazards such as smoke or poison gas. Barry has had basic self-defense training and is capable hand-to-hand fighter. He has also had some experience with high tech equipment, having helped to install many of Unity's advanced computer and defensive systems. Theme thumb|500px|left Category:Original Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Italians Category:Xavier Institute Category:Unity Category:Beta-level Mutants